The present application relates to an invention for winding wire coils in the slots of armatures of dynamoelectric machines (such as fractional horsepower electric motors), by means of a flyer-type winder.
More particularly, the invention is concerned with simplifying the wire guide members (commonly called shrouds or chucks) used in traditional flyer winders.
In such winders, these members are used as guide surfaces to capture and direct wire being delivered by rotation of the flyer into the slots of the armature. More precisely, the wire travels along the surface of the wire guide members to become aligned with and be directed into the slots of the armature.
Wire guide members according to these principles have been described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,086 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,745, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Conventional winders may be adapted to wind different size armatures. Different armature sizes are accommodated by utilizing extensive wire guide members to properly align the wire as it is wound into the slots of the armature. While conventional winders work well, they add stress to the wire by passing the wire over an extended portion of the wire guide members. Additional stress on the wire may contribute to breakage, and is considered non-optimal. In addition, winding irregularities add to the possibility of breakage. Thus, uniform tension and direction control applied to the wire leaving the flyer would be advantageous.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an armature winder which reduces the area of contact between the wire and the winders.
It would also be desirable to simplify the design of the wire guide members.
It would also be desirable to provide an armature winder which exerts uniform tension on the wire being wound.
It would further be desirable to provide an armature winder having improved direction control.
It would still further be desirable to provide an armature winder capable of providing all of the foregoing advantages for armatures having varying sizes and shapes.
It is an object of this invention to provide an armature winder which reduces the area of contact between the wire and the winders.
It is also an object of this invention to simplify the design of the wire guide members.
It is also an object of this invention to provide an armature winder which exerts uniform tension on the wire being wound.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an armature winder having improved direction control.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide an armature winder capable of providing all of the foregoing advantages for armatures having varying sizes and shapes.
An armature winder having an adjustable winding arm for rotatably winding a wire into an armature is provided. The winding arm delivers wire from a wire delivery point on the winding arm into an armature. The winding arm is adjustable to vary the distance of the wire delivery point radially from a longitudinal axis of the armature winder. This distance can be varied for different armatures.
In one embodiment of the invention, the winding arm pivots about an axis transverse to the longitudinal axis of the armature winder. This pivoting movement allows the wire delivery point to be varied towards or away from the armature along an arcuate path.